


Go Home, You're Cracked

by ruasquirrel



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comedy, Don't let the tags scare you its a good time i swear, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Whump, steven acts like an idiot whilst connie is very concerned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21741076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruasquirrel/pseuds/ruasquirrel
Summary: Steven’s gem is cracked, and for some reason he finds it all very amusing.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 59
Kudos: 633





	Go Home, You're Cracked

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is just my exploration of what kind of effects Steven would feel if his gem were cracked  
> Honestly, I don't even know if Diamonds can be cracked, or how much force it would take but hey this isn't about whether he COULD, but what would happen if he DID  
> Honestly, I just thought it would be funny if it made him act like he was a little drunk, so this is a weird midway point between angst and comedy (???)  
> Enjoy

It had been a fairly normal mission before it all went horribly wrong.

Steven and Connie had been sent out to retrieve a corrupted gem; one of many stragglers that had missed out on the first mass healing session. An entire planet was certainly a lot of ground to cover, and corrupted gems took on so many different forms and had adapted to living in so many different environments, it was only natural that there were still stray individuals left wandering the Earth. They were becoming increasingly difficult to find as their numbers dwindled, and many of them proved difficult to catch due to their unique constitutions and unpredictable behaviour. Stragglers were often elusive, frightened creatures that specialised in camouflaging themselves within their environment, and most were prone to violently lashing out due to their intense fear and mental anguish. One had to use utmost caution when dealing with these gems.

A lesson which Steven had hammered home for him in the most brutal way possible.

In the anticipation of near-victory, he had gotten careless. Eager to get the battle over with and to poof and bubble the poor lost soul he saw in front of him, he had approached the creature from behind, hoping to catch it off guard. An unwise decision, to say the least. Connie, who was occupied with keeping the gem’s attention by ducking and diving and weaving her way around its many furious swipes, could barely decipher Steven’s whereabouts until it was far, far too late. He must have moved too quickly, or made a noise, or stepped on one of the creature’s partially-translucent appendages without realising it, because within the space of a few seconds it had whipped its head around violently, let out a guttural, panicked shriek and swung its powerful barbed tail with a speed and ferocity neither of them quite expected.

The creature struck Steven square on the belly, knocking the air clean out of him and sending him flying across the overgrown plaza like a ragdoll, twisting and tumbling in mid-air in a futile attempt to regain control of his direction. Before he could even make sense of what was happening or where he was headed, he crashed into the crumbling stone memorial at the centre of the square, with his belly once again taking the brunt of the impact.

Connie watched on with horror as his form fell to the ground with a sickening thud, fearing the worst.

“St-” she tried to call out to him, tried to study his fallen body for at least a few seconds to determine whether or not he was moving, but a gruff snarl quickly drew her attention back to the corrupted gem in front of her.

It pained her to even think such a thing, but Steven had to wait. This corrupted gem needed to be defeated and removed from the battlefield as soon as humanly possible, or neither of them were getting out of this alive.

Newly enraged, the creature had determined that Steven was no longer a threat, and was now directing the full force of its manic fury towards Connie. Mind racing and heart torn in two directions, she made a split-second tactical decision and darted into the undergrowth, running in the direction opposite the monument. Away from the plaza, away from Steven.

Her mind felt cloudy and chaotic, her growing concern for her cherished friend beginning to fester and seep its way into every rational thought she attempted to construct, every strategy she attempted to formulate as the creature pursued her further into the woods. She whispered to herself in between ragged breaths, just audibly enough to reach her own ears above the rushing wind and the crashing footfall following just a few metres behind her, trying desperately to pick out her strategic thoughts in amongst the relentless, swirling anxieties plaguing her adrenaline-flooded brain.

“I need to stay inside the woods surrounding the plaza, I can use this environment to my advantage.”

_Every second I run I’m getting further and further away from him._

“I could try and slide underneath and attack its exposed belly.”

_Was Steven breathing when I last looked at him?_

“If I could just climb that tree and strike it from above, it would dissipate its form.”

_Is he bleeding? Has he broken his ribs?_

“The creature is already tired and damaged, I just need an opportunity for a finishing strike.”

_Will he still be alive when I go back?_

“I need to finish this quickly.”

_I need to finish this now._

In a move that she would usually consider foolhardy, Connie whipped around and faced the creature head-on, halting in her tracks. As expected, it continued its charge, bounding towards her with terrifying speed and ferocity. Narrowing her eyes, she squared her shoulders, still rising and falling in time to her quickened breathing, and watched intently as the creature closed in on her, gauging the exact distance and speed in order to determine the exact timing she would need to pull off her final strike. Just as the beast was a single stride away from reaching her, she let go of her inhibitions and allowed herself to fall backwards against the dirt, bracing herself with one hand and clutching her sword tightly in the other. The creature’s face barely missed her own as she fell back, an action which it had clearly not expected in the least. As soon as she was on the ground the beast tried desperately to stop its forward momentum, but its body was too large, and its limbs too clumsy to bring it to a complete stop. Connie took her chance to strike, thrusting her sword upwards into its soft underbelly with an impatient, furious cry.

The creature froze, letting out a pitiful gargle as its body began to go limp and the light in its eyes faded. A few sombre seconds passed before its form exploded into a magnificent cloud of dusty particles. Its gem then dropped to the floor, hitting the ground with a quiet thud, partially muted by the soft undergrowth. Still laying on the ground, Connie stared up through the tree canopy, watching the clouds moving steadily across the pristine blue sky. Her throat was dry, she was drenched in sweat, her heart was pounding against her chest and her breathing had yet to slow down even by a fraction. On any other day she would allow herself some time to recover before re-joining the group, but today she had no such luxury.

_‘I need to go back to Steven.’_

Pulling herself to her feet took great effort, but once she was up she was determined to make a beeline for the plaza. She turned to the inert gem laying just a foot away from her, briefly debating whether to take it with her or simply leave it to be re-captured another day. To be brutally honest, she didn’t feel too fondly about this particular gem, considering what it had just done, but deep down she knew that was an unfair judgement to make. Corrupted gems were just broken, terrified individuals, transformed against their will into forms they did not choose, forced into a mental space they could not comprehend.

Sighing heavily, Connie reached down and took the gem into her hand, grasping it with gentle care.

“I know, you didn’t mean it…” she murmured remorsefully.

Gem in hand, Connie twisted around and headed towards the plaza, pushing her tired legs to move as fast as they possibly could. She pushed onwards through the thicket, buzzing with nervous energy and occasionally fumbling with her footing as she ran. The clearing was dead ahead, getting closer and closer with every weary step, and as the stone monument came into view she miraculously uncovered some hidden energy reserve within her, surging forward and breaking out into a sprint for the last leg of the journey.

Her feet hit upon solid stone as she leapt out of the thicket, refusing to slow her forward motion. Steven’s form came into view, sitting partially upright, slumped against the base of the monument. As far as she could recall, he had fallen onto his side when he landed. If he was now sitting up, that meant he had moved, and if he had moved, then…

_‘He’s alive!’_

“Steven!” she called out, eyes watering and causing her vision to blur. She couldn’t be 100% sure, but through the misty haze of her tears, Connie swore she saw his head move.

Propelling herself forward with every ounce of strength and speed she could muster, Connie came to an abrupt stop by bracing herself against the monument, using her arms to cushion the impact and prevent her body from slamming full-force into the stone. Kneeling down next to her companion, Connie took a quick survey of the damage. She could see a nasty bruise forming out from under his shirt collar, marring and vividly discolouring his skin. His face had suffered a few scratches, and there was a significantly sized graze on his left cheek. He certainly looked worse for wear, but all in all he was notably less damaged than a normal human would be after experiencing such an attack.

Injuries aside, the most worrying thing was the fact that he had barely acknowledged her presence. Connie felt as if a lead weight had dropped in her chest, settling heavily on her gut. Desperately, and perhaps with more force than she should apply to an injured person, she shook his shoulder and called his name once more, voice strained.

“Steven!”

She got a response that time. Eyelids fluttering open, Steven turned his head and gazed at her through bleary, half-lidded eyes.

“Heyyy…” he greeted, voice low and unexpectedly lackadaisical.

Connie blinked away her tears, now overcome by a slower, but equally potent kind of concern.

“Are… you okay?” she asked, hesitant.

“Ohhh… yeah! M’totally good” came his sluggish response, onto which he added, “Oh, wait… except for this.”

With a concerningly disproportionate level of concentration and effort, Steven clumsily pulled up his shirt to reveal the gem in his navel.

His gem, which now sported a large, ugly crack, splitting it diagonally down the centre.

“S’cracked,” he clarified lazily upon seeing Connie’s dumbstruck expression.

“Wha- Steven! D-did you try healing it?!” she asked in a panic.

“Didn’t work.”

“This- this is really, really bad, right?”

“Oh yeah, it’s _bad_ bad,” he answered blithely, a disturbingly genuine smile on his face.

“Does it… hurt?” she asked, eyeing him up and down for any signs of pain. She found none, no clenched teeth or tensing body parts, but was immediately contradicted.

“Oh, it hurts. Hurts real bad. Not all the time, though, just sometimes,” he answered again, still smiling like a drunk.

Connie simply stared at him, confounded. There was something very, very wrong with this.

“Steven?”

“Yeah?”

“What the heck is going on with you? Shouldn’t you be more, I don’t know, worried about this? You said it was serious.”

“It’s serious, it’s seriously serious,” he slurred as he pulled himself slowly to his feet. “But tha’s okay, we can fix it! We just gotta- we just gotta- y’know, we gotta go to Mom’s place.”

He knew there was a place you were supposed to go when stuff like this happened, but he couldn’t recall exactly where. His mind felt fuzzy, and all of a sudden it was very, very difficult to move his mouth and form words in a way that didn’t make him sound utterly intoxicated. Steven screwed his eyes shut and made a loose rolling gesture with his hand, attempting to coax the words out of his own disobedient mouth.

“The-the-the thing…! Rose’s healing thingy.”

“Rose’s fountain?” Connie offered, now standing next to him.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, clicking his finger. “We have to go there.”

Connie took a moment to look him up and down. He was standing, sure, but he was worryingly unsteady on his feet, swaying slowly back and forth and occasionally jerking his body in one direction or another to avoid keeling over. His jacket was hanging off one shoulder, and his hair was coated with dust and debris. The boy was an utter mess, and possibly in critical condition.

‘ _I have to get him to that fountain ASAP_ ,’ she resolved inwardly.

Steven, on the other hand, felt pretty great, all things considered. Or at least, he didn’t feel as awful as he thought he would. It hurt, of course, he _was_ cracked after all, but it wasn’t the constant ache he had expected, more of an intermittent pain that would occasionally course through his body like an errant bolt of lightning, causing him to wince and momentarily seize up. Those moments were awful, he had to admit, but mostly it just felt bubbly and blurry and dizzying, and he couldn’t help but find it all so amusing.

That being said, Connie was right to be concerned.

‘ _She’s so nice_ ,’ he thought to himself, ‘ _I’m so lucky to have her._ ’

“Okay Steven, let’s get you to that fountain,” she announced assertively, impatient to get moving.

“Right,” Steven responded, trying very hard to put his game-face on.

He took a step forward, hoping to head in the direction of the nearest warp pad. Instead, he found his face heading very quickly in the direction of the ground, as his legs completely gave out on him.

He braced for impact, but it never came. Connie, upon seeing him take a step, had anticipated his fall before it even happened. Unable to call out to him before he attempted to walk forward, she immediately lunged towards him and caught him before he smacked his head against the pavement. A concussion was the last thing either of them needed right now, Steven’s head was already sufficiently screwed up as is. In more ways than one.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Connie swung his arm over her shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist, partially supporting his unsteady weight. The fact that he was unable to so much as take a few steps on his own had her deeply concerned, and once again she began to feel that lead weight weighing down on her insides.

Slowly, unsurely cracking open an eye, Steven glanced up at his rescuer.

_‘She caught me.’_

He turned his head to look her in the face, and she looked down at him with her lips pulled into a slight frown and her eyebrows furrowed.

“Are you okay?” she asked him, voice gentle and laced with worry.

There was something about the way she was looking at him, something about the way she spoke to him that had him feeling positively giddy. There she was, his gallant protector, who had just nobly rescued him from a terrible, painful, and deeply embarrassing fate. Oh, and she had her hand on his waist, and she was staring down at him with those pretty brown eyes, and she had that adorable expression on her face that made him feel tingly all over. Actually, the tingling could be due to his cracked gem, but he was pretty sure it was Connie.

She quirked an eyebrow at him, confused by his lack of response and his blatant stare.

This was bad. He wasn’t responding normally to her questions, and he could barely focus. She glanced towards the entrance to the plaza; the warp pad was located just outside.

“C’mon,” she mumbled under her breath, unsure if Steven could even properly register speech in his current state.

She pushed onwards, taking steady, careful steps so as to allow him to keep up with her pace. Now that he had her for support, he seemed a lot steadier on his feet, and the two of them slowly but surely picked their way across the plaza. Connie’s eyes remained transfixed on the warp pad, which was now visible through the archway that marked the entrance to the square. Each step felt like an eternity, and the closer she got, the more nervous anticipation she felt building up inside her chest. She wanted nothing more than to be able to run straight there and get Steven to warp them immediately into Rose’s fountain, but she had to take things slow. As much as she hated to admit it, she just didn’t have the strength to carry him right now.

Connie glanced down at his face, only to find him regarding her with an idiotic smile and glassy, unfocused eyes.

“Uh, do I have something on my face or…?”

“You’re so pretty,” he purred, brazenfaced.

She flushed, utterly taken aback. There he was, severely wounded and hanging on to his consciousness by a thread, and he had decided that _now_ , of all moments, was a good time to flirt?

Connie muttered under her breath, “You really _are_ out of it”, then promptly re-focused her attention on their shared destination.

They were close now, just a few dozen more steps and they could warp away to the fountain and leave this awful place behind. Connie looked down at her charge, aiming to offer him some words of encouragement for the final stretch, but the words died in her throat as he abruptly halted his lumbering march.

Steven saw Connie, in his peripheral vision, open her mouth to speak, but before she could get a word out, it happened. A sudden, intense jolt of searing pain coursed through him, an electric shockwave that shot up and down his arms and legs and converged right in the centre of his belly, eliciting a strangled gasp from him. It felt as if every muscle in his body had suddenly and involuntarily contracted at once, and he lost what little strength he had been using to stay on his feet. His legs buckled and he crashed to the ground, landing on his hands and knees. Connie was at his side immediately, placing a shaky hand on his back and desperately asking him what was wrong. He so badly wanted to answer her, to reassure her, but the pain hadn’t yet subsided, and his jaw remained firmly clenched as he could do nothing but ride it out and wait for it to pass.

This had happened several times before, whilst he was waiting alone by the monument. In those cases, the pain would last no more than a second or two, though it was no less intense. This time was different, it had lasted so much longer than any of his other episodes, and he started to wonder if the pain would ever subside at all.

Several gruelling moments passed, and the pain was mercifully replaced by a droning, static-y sensation; like an intense, full-body case of pins and needles. Steven finally eased his jaw open, gratefully taking in several gasping breaths; with his body seized up like that, it had been difficult to pull air into his lungs. If it had have gone on for much longer, he would probably have passed out.

Connie, while she was still clearly panicked, had taken to speaking calm, measured words of comfort and encouragement, most of which he hadn’t been able to comprehend. He could hear her loud and clear now, however. As terrible as they were, these shockwaves of pain seemed to at least provide him a few moments of clarity, jarring his muddled brain into focus.

“It’s just a few more steps to the warp pad,” he heard her say, soft and hesitantly hopeful.

“See what I meant about ‘hurting real bad’?” he said with a strained chuckle.

Connie saw no reason to be amused.

“Let’s get you back on your feet,” she urged, voice taut.

Steven nodded wordlessly and took in a few more steady breaths before rocking back into a kneeling position. Once again, Connie wrapped her arm around his waist and slung his arm over her shoulder, heaving him upwards with great effort. They walked slightly faster this time, unsteady and impatient. Just a few more steps, and yet Steven found his mind was beginning to cloud again, as if the world was coated in a fine, inebriating mist. A distinctive clinking sound told him that they had finally stepped up onto the warp pad, which he took as his cue to warp him and Connie the heck out of there.

On instinct, he stretched his free arm out, attempting to at least partially adopt the pose he usually took when warping. It wasn’t necessary, but it had been ingrained in him as habit since he first learned to use the warp system, it allowed him to easily assume the state of mind he needed to be in in order to warp. He directed his thoughts to Rose’s fountain, pictured his destination clearly and honed in on his desire to travel there.

Nothing.

No brilliant flash of blue light, no familiar trilling chime, no sensation of weightlessness.

He couldn’t warp.

Of course he couldn’t, his gem was damaged, his powers weren’t working. How could he have forgotten? Man, was he stupid. _‘Typical Steven,’_ he thought, _‘so silly and forgetful.’_ Connie was sure to get a kick out of this.

“Ohhhh, of course!” he droned, slapping a hand to his forehead. “I’m so dumb! I can’t use the warp ‘cause my gem’s all busted!” he drawled, letting out an indignant snort, followed immediately by a dopey guffaw.

Connie did _not_ get a kick out of that. In fact, the realisation only served to throw her into a panic.

“What?!” she exclaimed, her grip on the boy tightening, “Then what are we supposed to do?!”

“I’unno, you’re the smart one” he said with a lazy shrug.

“Ugh!” Connie groaned. With Steven in the state he was, she was basically left on her own when it came to figuring a way out of this. She glanced around, eyes darting frantically to-and-fro, looking for something, anything that may provide her a clue, an idea, some stroke of genius that could be their salvation. She found nothing but old, crumbling stone and dense, overgrown shrubbery.

Just as she felt that all hope was lost, Connie was struck with a realisation.

“Steven, do you have your phone on you?”

“Mm? Yeah.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” she breathed, “We can call for help.”

“Connie, you’re so smart,” Steven complimented, dopey smile still firmly affixed to his face.

Connie, trying to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks, avoided eye contact and swiftly manoeuvred Steven over to one of the walls that enclosed the small yard in which they stood. Slowly, carefully, and ever so slightly clumsily, she lowered him to the ground and allowed him to sit up against it. Following suit, she plopped down next to him so that they sat shoulder-to-shoulder. She opened her mouth to ask him to hand over his phone, but upon turning to look at him found herself promptly shutting it again. His eyes were closed, his head tilted back and resting against the cold, hard stone, cushioned by his thick curls. Connie paused, surveyed his face, took note of his slightly furrowed brow and the bags forming under his eyes, watched his chest rising and falling steadily. Part of her wanted to leave him be, allow him to rest and watch over him as he dozed off, but the anxious, pragmatic side of her knew that would be too risky. Every moment brought with it the risk of him seizing up again, and neither of them knew what kind of damage those episodes could cause. Even more so, she simply didn’t wish to see him suffer through it.

Throwing every lesson in etiquette she had ever had right out the window, she reached into his jacket and delicately searched for the interior zip pocket, slightly bashful and all-too-aware of how her hand brushed up against his chest. He didn’t seem to mind her blatant invasion of his personal space, however, simply letting out a chaste giggle, eyes still firmly shut. Finally, she located the pocket, which was on the side opposite to her. As if her situation needed to be made any more awkward, Connie was now forced to reach across his belly and fumble to pull open the zip with one hand. Despite the fierce heat now settled in her cheeks, ‘ _why does this feel so weird, it’s just Steven_ ’, she dared to glance up at his face. His eyes were open now, just about, an amused smile plastered onto his dumb, soft, pretty face.

‘ _Wait, what_?’

“What’re you doin’?” he slurred, a playful lilt to his voice.

Quickly averting her eyes, Connie swiftly pulled the phone from his pocket and sat back against the wall. She looked it over, marvelling at how remarkably intact it was. No doubt Peridot and Bismuth had something to do with that.

“I need to use your phone to call for help”, she answered, still refusing to meet his gaze and praying to every god and every star above to be blessed with adequate cell signal.

She unlocked his phone, already privy to his passcode, and quickly thumbed through his contacts. Slamming her thumb down on Pearl’s contact, she put the phone to her ear and waited with bated breath. She let out a sigh of relief upon hearing the call being patched through. After a few painfully long rings, Connie heard her mentor’s chipper voice on the other end of the line, a gleeful greeting intended for Steven’s ears.

“Pearl? Yeah, it’s Connie, we have a bit of a situation on our hands.”

* * *

After a brief, tense and difficult phone conversation in which both Pearl and Connie tried very, very hard not to break down into fits of panicked sobs, Connie shoved Steven’s phone into her own pocket and let out a heavy, trembling sigh.

“The Gems will be here as soon as they can,” she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone, “they were in the middle of a mission, so they have to find a warp pad.”

Steven turned to look at her, exhausted and sluggish. He nodded silently, blinking slowly. For the first time since his injury occurred, he looked nervous. His lip was trembling just enough to be noticeable, and his eyes looked as though they could start welling up with tears at any moment. Without a moment’s hesitation, Connie took his hand into her own.

“Just hang tight, okay?”

He took in a sharp breath, squeezing her hand lightly and nodding once more. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. She shuffled closer to him, pressing into his side, ensuring her presence was felt.

And there they waited. Neither of them knew how much time was passing, or how long they would have to wait, and so they sat in silence, Connie’s anxious gaze fixed intently on the warp pad in front of her. She briefly considered checking Steven’s phone to gauge the passage of time, but ultimately decided against it. At some point she had started resting her head on his shoulder; the physical exertion of the day was beginning to catch up to her, and she felt her own eyelids growing heavy. However, just as she felt herself slipping into a hazy, blissful state, she was abruptly disturbed. Without warning, Steven’s grip on her hand tightened, clamping down like a vice. She jerked upright, eyes snapping wide open, and turned to see that his entire body had tensed up. His brows furrowed, his eyes screwed tightly shut, and he sucked in a sharp, hissing breath through clenched teeth.

Immediately, she pulled his hand close to her chest, squeezing back with a gentle, reassuring strength. Her other hand made its way to his back, and she unconsciously started rubbing it in slow, soothing circular motions.

Something about the way his face contorted, the way his shoulders tensed, the way his hand gripped her own with such desperate ferocity that it trembled and turned his knuckles white; it pained her very soul. Steven was usually so resilient, so upbeat, so seemingly untouchable when it came to physical injury that seeing him like this, weak and anguished and petrified, felt so wrong, so unjust, and so heart-breaking to witness. And the very worst part of it was that she was utterly powerless to take away his pain, all she could hope to do was try to comfort him.

As the pain receded, Steven was greeted once again by an unpleasant static that engulfed his entire body. His tired, aching muscles slowly relaxed, allowing him to unclench his jaw and pull in a few desperate, gasping breaths. With the passage of the pain, he gained a few precious moments of clarity. He decided to make use of them, to the best of his ability, to reassure the distressed, protective and endlessly wonderful girl he was lucky enough to call his best friend.

“I’m okay,” he murmured, less convincingly than he had hoped.

Connie met his gaze, her eyes misty and her face overcome with an expression of pure empathetic distress. He smiled at her, tried very hard to make it look convincing, but her expression didn’t shift. Instead, in a move that surprised and perplexed him and made his heart quiver inside his chest, she raised his hand, still clasped in hers, and pressed the back of it chastely against her lips. One step short of a kiss. Steven simply blinked at her, eyes wide and cheeks rapidly turning pink.

She shook her head.

“Oh, Steven. You’re not okay, you’re hurt. Badly.”

She spoke so sadly, and he could feel every word spilling from her lips as they brushed against his skin.

“And me… I can’t… I’m sorry, I wish I could do something for you, but I can’t. I feel so useless.”

Her words came out straightforward and self-critical, and the thought of Connie feeling so down on herself made his heart ache. How is it that she hasn’t yet realised that her being here, holding his hand, and staying by his side, it was more than enough for him?

Steven shook his head.

“You’re not useless, Connie. I need you here, I-…” he swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat, “I don’t wanna be alone right now.”

Connie pulled his hand away from her lips, bringing it down to rest on her lap, still entwined in her own. She sniffled, as did he, and brought her other hand up to rest tenderly on his cheek.

“And when I ran off to fight that corrupted gem,” she began, voice laced with remorse, “you _were_ alone.”

He nodded, a few stray tears spilling down his cheeks.

“Did… these ‘episodes’, did they happen while I was gone, too?” she asked, voice laden with emotion, dark eyes searching his face.

He nodded again.

“A few times,” he admitted.

“That must have been… hard, and scary.”

In her mind, Connie pictured him there, slumped against that stone monument, totally alone, face contorted in pain and body seizing up, in sheer agony. Nobody there to comfort him, nothing to reassure him. It disturbed her greatly to imagine it, shook up her resolve and struck her square in the heart. Just as the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes threatened to fall, she felt Steven squeeze her hand lightly.

“Yeah… but now _you’re_ here,” he said, his eyelids beginning to droop and his gaze losing focus.

His precious few moments of clear-headedness were up, and the fog returned, along with his dopey, irrepressible smile.

“S’gonna be okay, Connie, the Gems’ll be here soon and they’ll get me all fixed up,” he said, managing to keep his slurring to a minimum despite his foggy brain and his unruly mouth.

Connie nodded, sniffling.

“Yeah, you’re gonna be fine,” she said, trying very hard to believe her own words.

She leaned into his side again, returning her relentless gaze to the warp pad.

“Everything’s gonna be okay.”

* * *

It was another 20 minutes before help arrived, and they had been the longest, most nerve-wracking 20 minutes Connie Maheswaran had ever experienced in her young life. During it, Steven suffered several more shocks. At least 5, not that anyone was counting. The episodes varied in severity; a couple lasted less than 3 seconds, resulting in nothing more than a wince followed by an awkward chuckle or a sigh of relief, another few were on a similar level to the ones Connie had seen previously.

There was one, however, that terrified her to her very core. A paroxysm so severe that it caused him to cry out and keel over onto his side, body thudding against the cracked pavement. He lay there, teeth gritted, gasping and groaning, in throes of agony for well over a minute. Connie could do little else but grasp both his hands in hers and try to coach him through it, to encourage him to try and breathe, to whisper words of comfort and encouragement despite his seeming inability to register her presence. Even after his spasms had passed, he found himself unable, or perhaps unwilling, to sit up, laying against the cold stone, his breathing laboured and sweat beating at his brow. She couldn’t convince her heart-rate to lower for several minutes afterwards, and she found her eyes constantly flicking between the warp pad, static and hopelessly silent, and Steven, who she constantly, obsessively monitored for signs of deterioration.

Every time, without fail, no matter how lucid he seemed in the moments succeeding one of his episodes, he would return to his dazed, half-comatose condition, an insufferably careless smile affixed to his face.

It was beginning to frustrate her, how he could worry her so and then return to being a giggling, bumbling, adorable idiot as if he hadn’t just experienced a harrowing, agonising pain just minutes before. There was a part of her that wondered if he was putting up a front to stop her from worrying, but those suspicions were quickly cast aside when he attempted to pull her up onto her feet for a dance and he toppled backwards, completely, genuinely unable to balance himself.

There was no two ways about it, having a cracked gem simply made him act like a drunk. Something was interfering with his ability to process stimuli, and his ability to think straight, and maintain proper balance, and there was a 100% chance that it all had to do with the ugly gouge in the pretty pink gem sitting at his navel.

Steven had once again taken to laying back against the wall, eyes closed and maintaining a barely coherent conversation with Connie when the warp pad activated, illuminating the pair in a familiar, joyful light. The stream receded to reveal Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, all exhibiting varying levels of panic.

“Steven! Connie!” shouted Pearl, voice wavering.

Upon hearing her speak, Steven’s eyes snapped open and he sat upright, clutching his gem. He tried to stand, but Connie immediately thwarted his attempt by pressing a hand to his chest and shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” she warned, then turned to Pearl. “He’s in really bad shape.”

“We need to get him to the fountain immediately,” said Garnet as she approached, voice strained.

“Right,” agreed Connie, immediately wrapping her arm around Steven’s waist in that way she was becoming all-too familiar with.

Just as she was about to hoist him up, however, Garnet stopped her.

“I’ll carry him,” she stated firmly.

“That’s okay, Garnet, I can handle it.”

Amethyst, who had now taken to crouching down in front of the pair, gave her a discerning look.

“Are you sure about that? You look totally zonked.”

She couldn’t exactly argue with that, she _was_ exhausted. Her muscles were aching, her strength was slowly but surely dwindling, and the stress and anxiety surrounding the whole situation had taken a toll on her mental stamina. She looked to Garnet, hesitantly released her grip and nodded slowly.

Connie couldn’t help but feel a little jealous watching how Garnet effortlessly scooped him into her arms, as if his weight were a total non-issue. A human teenager was heavier than the average adult human could handle, but to the gems he may as well weigh the same as he did when he was a child, it made that little difference.

“Heyyy Garnet,” Steven greeted with a lopsided smile, “How’s it goin’? Didja finish your mission?”

“Don’t worry about the mission, Steven. All that matters is we get you healed,” she responded in hushed tones, a tender, nervous quality to her voice.

Connie felt herself suddenly struck with remembrance.

“Oh! The corrupted gem!” she exclaimed as she pulled an inert gemstone from her pocket.

 _‘Thank goodness it didn’t reform’,_ she thought, feeling a pang of retrospective anxiety.

She held it out to Pearl, who had momentarily ceased fussing over Steven to look over at Connie. She took the gem from her hands and bubbled it without a moment’s delay.

“You did very well to retrieve this gem on your own,” she said as she lay an affectionate hand on her shoulder.

“I can’t take all the credit ma’am, Steven helped me weaken it before he…” she paused, casting a nervous glance at the boy nestled in Garnet’s arms, babbling relentlessly about something or other to Amethyst, who was now in fits of barely-repressed laughter.

Pearl followed her gaze, then offered her a rigid smile, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Thank you for watching over him, Connie. A cracked gem can be… a very unpleasant experience,” she said with a slight wince, turning once again to gaze at her surrogate child with an indisputable look of concern.

She then made her way back over to Garnet, standing in front of her and closely inspecting the fragile passenger cradled in her arms.

“Alright, let me see it,” said Pearl in a voice that only a mother could possess. Without giving Steven a chance to respond, she took the liberty of gently pulling his shirt up to his chest, providing her with a full, unobstructed view of his severely damaged gem.

“Pearrrl!” he whined, “That’s not polite!”

Whatever apology Pearl had planned on issuing swiftly died in her throat as she saw the extent of the damage, pressing a hand to her mouth and looking up to Garnet with palpable anxiety. Garnet simply sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, and Amethyst ceased her giggling as she peered up and caught a glimpse of Steven’s gem.

“Woah, that’s way worse than I thought it would be.”

Curiosity got the better of her, and Connie politely wedged herself in amongst the huddle. She had a brief glimpse of it before, but now that she could study it up close, she fully realised just how grim his injury was. The crack spread across the breadth of the surface, just a few millimetres short of splitting his gem entirely down the middle. It was deep, too; a jagged chasm that extended into the lower portion of his Diamond cut. Despite not being a gem herself, the sight of it was enough to make her wince.

“We need to go, _now_ ,” Garnet declared hurriedly.

Connie looked to Steven, who was now staring at her, eyes wide. His family’s adverse reaction to his injury must have brought forth a newfound sense of fear, and she saw his panicked gaze wordlessly begging for reassurance. Before she could reach up and grasp his hand, or offer any words of comfort, Garnet turned suddenly and stepped up onto the warp pad, pulling him painfully out of her reach. Pearl and Amethyst followed suit, and all eyes turned to Connie.

“Oh, r-right!” she stammered as she, too, stepped onto the glassy platform.

As the group were surrounded by serene blue light, Connie heard Garnet speak, voice barely above a whisper, to the now trembling teenager held firmly in her protective grasp.

“It’s okay, just breath, it won’t be much longer now.”

\--

The journey to the fountain lasted no more than a few seconds, and the group found themselves standing before the large, circular stone walls that encompassed the clearing. The only thing standing between them and the fountain was a star-shaped archway, a small flight of stone steps and a short walk across the cobbles.

Immediately upon arrival, Pearl had practically leapt off the warp pad, hastily beckoning for Garnet to follow.

“Hurry, Garnet,” she spoke with an authority that only presented itself in dire situations. “We need to get him into that fountain as soon as possible.”

“Ah, what’s the rush?” Amethyst chirped, clearly attempting to lighten the mood as the group all but power-walked towards the centre of the plaza. “I kinda like him like this, it’s funny. Right, Stev-O?”

“Oh yeah, it feels _real_ funny,” he responded absentmindedly. “It’s like – agh!”

Garnet came to an abrupt halt as the boy in her arms flinched and stiffened up, grasping at the fabric of her bodysuit like a lifeline. Pearl immediately rushed to her side, looking Steven over with panicked eyes. Amethyst immediately regretted her previous words.

“I take it back,” she quickly rectified.

“Steven?” Pearl began, voice shaking and highly-strung. “What’s wrong? Wha-“

“He can’t answer you,” Connie interjected. “You just have to wait for it to pass.”

“This has happened before?” Pearl turned to her, aghast.

“Yeah, a few times… well, a lot of times actually,” she replied, reaching up to place a hand on Steven’s arm and addressing him quietly. “This is the last one, okay?”

Somehow, he managed a terse, hurried nod, eyelids screwed shut and jaw firmly clamped. Mercifully, the pain died down within a matter of seconds, and Steven opened his own eyes to find three other sets worriedly boring into him, and one visor-adorning gaze peering at him from above. The familiar, unwelcome sensation of pins and needles engulfed him from head to toe, but his head felt strangely clear.

“Uh,” he chuckled awkwardly, “c-could you guys stop staring at me? It’s starting to feel kinda claustrophobic.”

“Dude, are you okay?” asked Amethyst, blatantly ignoring his request.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine!" he chirped, without a hint of irony. "Or, I _will_ be once I get into that fountain.”

“Right,” Garnet agreed, continuing her march across the cobbles, an impatient Pearl following hurriedly alongside.

Just as she reached her destination, he stopped her.

“Wait! Could you put me down?” he asked, eliciting confused looks from the others.

Steven was well aware that he wasn’t capable of staying on his feet for very long in his current state, but he was determined to at least step into the fountain on his own strength. This day had been an utter embarrassment from start to finish, and the last thing he needed was to be dumped unceremoniously into a pool of water like a lead weight. Connie, amazing, wonderful, dignified Connie, had witnessed him make a critical blunder, had been left to defeat a corrupted gem totally solo due to his carelessness, and on top of that had to put up with his dazed, bumbling, foolish behaviour all day. And he had tried to pull her into a romantic dance, for reasons he himself could not comprehend, only to end up landing painfully on his backside. And he had _flirted_ with her. Stars, he flirted with her!

His ego simply would not make it out of this intact if he didn’t manage to do at least one competent thing today, even if that competent thing was nothing more than a few steps and a graceful, dignified hop into the shimmering water. He was under no illusions that he would be able to impress Connie with a graceful swan-dive (a boy could dream), but he could certainly make it out of this with one halfway adequate effort under his belt.

Garnet hesitated, but upon seeing the determined spark in his eyes, relented and carefully lowered him onto his feet. Once she removed her support, he felt his unsteadiness return to him full-force. He was standing, but in order to keep balanced he had to adopt an odd, half-upright, half-crouched stance with his arms slightly extended on either side. Connie took a step towards him, but he put a hand up, signalling to her to stop and let him be. He looked forward. The fountain was only two or three steps away. Utter silence fell over the group as his audience waited with bated breath. No one dared make a move.

Steven took in a deep breath and straightened his back as much as he could without causing himself to topple over. All he needed a little forward momentum; even if he stumbled, even if he was unsteady, so long as he could put one foot in front of the other well enough to prevent himself from crashing to the floor, he’d be satisfied. A controlled fall was better than nothing, he supposed, so long as he could make it look like walking.

He took a step, felt his weakened muscles threaten to buckle under his shifting weight and hurriedly took another, which only served to throw him further off balance.

 _‘One more step’,_ his inner voice urged.

He took another step.

_‘Great! Now just step into the fountain, nice and dignified!’_

Just a tiny stone partition between him and victory, Steven raised his leg, defying his aching muscles and his atrocious sense of balance to stride forward over the rim and into the water. Tragically, despite his best efforts, he was simply unable to lift his limbs high enough to carry him clear over the wall.

His foot caught on the stone, and he tumbled forward into the pool with a high-pitched yelp.

The healing process brought him relief from his physical affliction, at least, even if his ego may remain damaged. As soon as he was fully submerged, the crack in his gem had stitched itself together, his impaired muscles had regained their strength, and he easily found the energy to swim back up to the surface. His head burst out of the water, and he hastily ejected a deluge of his mother’s healing lachrymal essence from his mouth, like a Steven-shaped spigot. Rose’s fountain water had an interesting flavour, to say the least. Not entirely unpleasant, but far too floral for his tastes. He could do without the strange tingling sensation it left on his tongue, too.

Shaking his head, Steven opened his eyes to find Amethyst keeled over in fits of laughter, with Garnet and Pearl standing close, the latter breathing an exaggerated sigh of relief. Connie was leaning over the partition, watching him closely with a placated smile on her face. He swam over to her and swung his arms over the edge, but didn’t pull himself out, legs steadily kicking back and forth under the water to keep him afloat.

“Thank goodness that’s over, huh?” he breathed, hoping to put the whole ordeal behind them.

Connie simply looked down at him and placed a hand on his cheek. He cocked his head slightly, trying not to focus too hard on the way his heart skipped a beat. Watching her face intently, Steven saw her gentle, loving smile slowly twist into a mischievous (and dare he even think it, flirtatious) smirk.

“You’re so pretty,” she cooed, unable to contain the impish grin that followed.

A furious blush exploded across his cheeks and he sank further down into the water.

She was never gonna let him live it down.

**Author's Note:**

> This unintentionally turned into a kind of writing exercise for me to practice writing about physical pain, and Steven became my unfortunate test subject  
> Also, before anyone asks, Connie left her phone at Steven's because she didn't want it to get broken  
> As for Steven's phone, I think after everything he's been through, he'd get Bismuth and/or Peridot to reinforce it somehow


End file.
